Lesson 6: We Must Be Overcomers!

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches ...
Are our ears open? God wants them open so we can hear from Him clearly. To hear His words of love and strength, rebuke and praise, instruction and direction.
When we are filled with the knowledge of what God is doing in this age, and His will for our lives; we are empowered to walk worthy (to be overcomers), to fully please Him and to be fruitful in every good work.

What keeps our ears closed? Sin, which causes our necks to be stiff and our hearts to be hard. When we neglect to thoroughly confront sin in our heart we are not loved less by God, but we do suffer loss in several ways. We minimize our ability to experience the joy of our salvation, the spirit of revelation, God's power, fellowship with God and others, and receiving eternal rewards.

God gives to our heart on the basis of how much we hunger for relationship with Him, not on how much He loves us. (He loves us all equally.) We must know that God honors the value we put on our relationship with Him by giving us more according to our spiritual hunger.

People with greater power in ministry are not loved more by God, but He will entrust more to us as we mature because it will not damage us or others. When Jesus releases more of His presence and power in our lives, a greater degree of obedience is called for. You cannot have one without the other.

Four things increase as we experience more of the Holy Spirit's power: God's zeal, Satan's rage, man's demands, and our emotional capacities. Our spiritual maturity provides added protection from the counterattack of Satan on those operating in the anointing.

1. Read over 2 Peter 1:4-15. As we become partakers in God's divine plan and nature, what must we do?

In Bob Sorge's book, Power of the Blood, he outlines our transformation in Christ.
First, we are sprinkled with Jesus' blood and we are reckoned as righteous. This is our legal status before God. We are now able to have fellowship with God.

Then as we intentionally draw near to God and stay close to His heart, we take on more and more of His character and we become holy. This gives us a place in God's heart. It is here in God's presence that we will burn with fiery affection for Him.

Then as our behavior becomes changed, we are sanctified and transformed. We shine with Christ's radiance.

How can we impact others to help them stand firm in these times and overcome the accusations of the enemy that bring defeat to Christians today? We live in a fallen world with a very active devil. His accusations come and cause us to give up and to give into sin. God wants us to be overcomers!

2. Read Revelation 12:10-12. What are the three things mentioned that help us to overcome the enemy?

We must know and obey the Lord!

The blood of the Lamb is the work of the cross, which gives us perfect acceptance by Jesus. As believers, the enemy has NO legal right to torment us and accuse us.

We must set our hearts to obey Jesus' will regardless of what it costs. We must love and obey Him 100% with a spirit of abandonment to Him!

We must be very aware of our testimony to others; the words we speak and our actions. As we overcome, we can encourage others who are struggling like we did.

When we do these things, we enforce Jesus' victory in our lives and in others by our confession that refuses Satan's lies.

THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB

3. What does the blood of the Lamb do for us, Jesus' sacrifice on the cross? Read
Revelation 1:5; Hebrews 9:22; Romans 5:9; Hebrews 13:12; I Peter 1:18-19.